Tag: English

My journey to the Fulbright IEA began in a meeting with some of the people in my International Office. A the time I was at Western Kentucky University (WKU), as the Associate Dean of my college. I dealt with all things having to do with off-campus travel, and in this meeting we discussed some international opportunities for faculty and students. One of the administrators present asked if I planned to apply for a Fulbright IEA. In all honesty I had not heard of the IEA program before that but in browsing, I could see that  some of the countries seemed to align with what we were doing here at WKU. Moreover, some of the timetables for applications and visits seemed to work out. Because it was the closest deadline, I initially applied for an IEA in Germany, but was not accepted. Taiwan was my original first choice, so I re-wrote my application, applied, and was accepted.  In fact, the notification of acceptance came while I was in Cuba working to establish connections with a couple of universities there. Cuba’s internet WiFi infrastructure is not reliable, so I was in a park holding my phone at an angle trying to connect

My International Education Administrators trip to Taiwan was full of delightful surprises, including wonderful food, amazing Taiwanese people and unforgettable new colleagues from the U.S.  There are countless moments that struck me during my two weeks in Taiwan as we visited 16 universities and five foreign agencies.  Overall, I felt honored to be a Fulbright and to be included in this inaugural experience.   This honor was elevated when my group heard the first female president of Taiwan address the Fulbright Scholars of South East Asia.  Moreover, our group was encouraged to make contacts with U.S. Fulbright Scholars and discuss their ground-breaking work.  Indeed, we met with Taiwanese Alumni Fulbright Scholars to discuss the impact of Fulbright on their lives.  As a U.S. Fulbright Scholar-Brazil ’91, I shared immense pride in the accomplishment of these individuals.  Additionally, as an IEA participant, I was encouraged to advise my students and faculty to pursue these opportunities.  When  I returned home, I learned that two of my students had been awarded Fulbrights – one an ETA and one a Fulbright Student Award. During our trip to Taiwan, we met the minister of Foreign Affairs.  She was gracious and answered all of our questions.  We

What a tremendous privilege it was to participate in this program and work with the staff of Fulbright Taiwan.  The staff did a great job coordinating the whole program. They took excellent care of us from the initial contact to the arrangement of our return trip to the airport when the program was over. The itinerary was an almost perfect balance of visits to schools, agency visits, cultural sites, informational lectures, and free time.  I learned so much about Taiwan’s higher education system, its history, contemporary cross-strait relations, and about the various indigenous peoples of Taiwan.  The visits to a variety of institutions were also very informative and revealed a wealth of opportunities.  One of the many highlights was an opportunity to hear the President of Taiwan speak to a gathering of Fulbright recipients from all around the region that had gathered in Taipei for a research conference. Having visited mainland China on many occasions, I was able to observe the unique opportunities in Taiwan in contrast with opportunities on the mainland. One of the reasons I wanted to go to Taiwan was to investigate opportunities that are being overlooked in the shadow of mainland China.   The advantages that I